Interpreters showcase their abilities in Kissel trial

Published 7:23 am, Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Julia Ayala-Gonzalez, 60, and Fernando Jover, 42, are full-time Spanish-language interpreters who translated in real-time the entire Andrew Kissel murder trial the past two weeks for the defendant, Carlos Trujillo, in Stamford Superior Court. Ayala-Gonzalez works in the Norwalk courthouse and was brought over to Stamford for the trial. She is originally from Chile and Fernando is originally from Spain. They sit in a courtroom at Stamford Superior Court in Stamford, Conn on Thursday December 16, 2010. less

Julia Ayala-Gonzalez, 60, and Fernando Jover, 42, are full-time Spanish-language interpreters who translated in real-time the entire Andrew Kissel murder trial the past two weeks for the defendant, Carlos ... more

STAMFORD -- For the entire 13-day trial of Carlos Trujillo, the Bridgeport man accused of killing Greenwich real estate developer Andrew Kissel, courthouse interpreters huddled in a corner as they hurriedly rearranged legal proceedings and witness testimony from English into Spanish and spoke quietly into a microphone.

Interpreters worked in hourlong shifts to avoid losing their voices and keep from losing the intense focus required to accurately translate English into another language in less than a second. The interpreters call their skill a natural talent -- you either have it or you don't.

"It's like being in an orchestra," said Julia Ayala-Gonzalez, a 60-year-old Spanish-language interpreter who works at state Superior Court in Norwalk. "You're playing an instrument. The violin knows when to start so the flow of music doesn't get interrupted."

Ayala-Gonzalez was called to state Superior Court in Stamford to help interpret proceedings during the Kissel murder trial for defendant Carlos Trujillo.

She worked alongside Fernando Jover, 42, one of two-full time Spanish-language interpreters stationed in Stamford. The state Judicial Branch employs certified Spanish-language interpreters and one Ukrainian interpreter. Spanish interpreters are needed on a daily basis, and the court system has interpreters who speak Portuguese, Polish, Korean, Serbian, Croatian and Russian, said Alejandra Donath, supervisor of Interpreter and Translator Services at the state Judicial Branch in Hartford.

While the interpreters translate quick and routine proceedings several times a day -- in both civil and criminal courts -- the Kissel trial offered them a demanding test of their abilities.

The interpreters had to keep pace with the speaker, staying no more than a split second behind what was being said, without losing their place for an hour at a time. They spoke quietly into a recorder that relayed the Spanish interpretation into a earpiece worn by Trujillo. The trial was taxing, Jover said.

"We practice," Ayala-Gonzalez added. "We develop the ability of listening in English and automatically processing in Spanish. There is very little time to register anything."

Ayala-Gonzalez is from Chile and spent 25 years working as a paralegal in a private law firm in Stamford and helped attorneys with informal translation work. She became a certified court interpreter four years ago. She called the new job an extension of her career in the legal field.

"It turned into a career of its own," Ayala-Gonzalez said.

Usually found in a neatly trimmed suit, Jover is a tall and slender interpreter from a suburb outside the Spanish capital of Madrid. Some three years ago, a friend got a job as a court interpreter in Brooklyn, and Jover though he would try it out as well. When Ayala-Gonzalez first heard him in action after he passed the state interpreter exams, she said the Spaniard was a natural.

"He's a true, born interpreter," she said.

Being able to provide nearly instant translation of one language into another in a courtroom setting is not as simple as being fluent in both tongues. The state Judicial Branch wants its interpreters to be both bilingual and bicultural and offers an ethical code that keeps them from disclosing confidential attorney-client conversations or from offering legal advice to defendants who don't speak English.

"The main thing is getting an interpreter to stay within their role," Donath said. "We are impartial. That's our main goal."

Interpreters must also know American legal terms and how proceedings occur in Latin American countries so their meanings don't lose context during translation. Jover said he sometimes researches Latin American penal codes in his spare time to make sure he isn't making mistakes. Ayala-Gonzalez said she also must do her own homework to find the best interpretations, as local dialects and colloquialisms differ in Latin American countries.

"One word could mean something in Mexico and could mean something else in Peru," she said. "It could mean a bad word in another country."

In criminal proceedings, such as the Kissel trial, the interpreters help maintain the constitutional rights of defendants, making their role essential to the criminal justice system, Stamford Superior Court Judge Richard Comerford said.

"Without these people we simply cannot try cases of that complexity," Comerford said. "That complete transparency -- allowing a defendant to understand what he is doing in a courtroom -- is fundamental."

Jover said the job is fun and never boring. Each day is different. In the mornings you could be in divorce court, by the afternoon you could be interpreting a sentencing for a high-profile crime. It's also gratifying, he said.

"In a way I know I'm helping the system," Jover said. "I get a certain satisfaction out of it."

-- Staff Writer Jeff Morganteen can be reached at jeff.morganteen@scni.com or 203-964-2215.